TNAG-1327-FCO40-1740-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Ministerial-statements-1984 — Page 165

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of election appeals and so on should be as in the existing Electoral Provisions Ordinance and associated legislation applicable to the Urban Council and District Board elections.

17. As in the case of the electoral college constituencies the qualifications for nomination as a functional constituency candidate will be that the nominee shall have registered as a voter on the general electoral roll and have resided in Hong Kong for the ten years immediately prior to the date of his nomination and, additionally, the nominee shall also have registered as a voter for that constituency. It will also be necessary to be a registered voter on the general electoral roll to qualify as a voter in a functional constituency.

18. Consultations will be held with the organizations and professional bodies which will make up the functional constituencies, with a view to working out detailed arrangements for the 1985 elections.

Appointed Unofficial Members

19. It was proposed in the Green Paper that the number of appointed Unofficial members should be reduced progressively to 23 in 1985 and 16 in 1988. Public comment on this proposal varied widely from support for the retention of appointed Unofficial members indefinitely to suggestions that they should be removed from the Council completely as soon as possible.

20. If an element of continuity is to be maintained in the Legislative Council it would be unwise to reduce appreciably or too hastily the number of appointed members at this stage, for their experience in the workings of the Council should not be lost. The introduction of 24 elected members into a Council of the present size would require a significant reduction in the number of appointed Unofficial members. It has therefore been decided to increase the overall size of the Council to 56 and to reduce the number of appointed Unofficial members to 22 in 1985. The increase in the overall size of the Council is supported by the public view that the Council should be larger in order to meet the wide and diverse needs of present-day Hong Kong.

Official Members

21. It was proposed in the Green Paper that the three ex-officio members of the Legislative Council, the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General, should remain on the Council, but that the overall number of Official members should be reduced progressively to 13 in 1985 and ten in 1988. 22. The general view was in favour of this proposal. It is now intended that the reduction to ten will take place in 1985 in line with the increase in the number of elected members. This will still allow for a reasonable number of officials to remain in the Legislative Council at this stage to assist in the conduct of the business of the Council.

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